


odi et amo [ i hate and i love ]

by SHINeeNAilee



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, canon pairings but it's not really the focus, honestly it's the whole cast but it focuses on those three, my NaNo project that never got finished; hoping that if I post it I'll actually finish it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2018-05-05 16:18:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5381801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SHINeeNAilee/pseuds/SHINeeNAilee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[ HIATUS ] There's a new murder case for Conan, but clues show that Kaitō Kid might be threatened. Bringing in Heiji to help, will the three of them be able to keep each other safe?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I struggled with the idea of adding in the appropriate Japanese; such as, using Shōnen Tantei-dan instead of the Detective Boys, but I had decided that I was going to use the Japanese instead of the English because I think authors sometimes forget that these characters aren't American / European. If a lot of people raise expressed concerns ( which I doubt a lot of people would read in the first place, but that's a different story ), I might change it later, but this is how it shall be written.

Megure- _keibu_ walked into the apartment of Okita Nao, experienced eyes taking in each aspect of the apartment ( no dust build-up and books were ordered by the authors’ last name, which meant that Okita was quite a meticulous person, etc. ) before he looked over at Takagi- _keiji_ , who had reached the crime scene before he did.

“Any reports, Takagi- _kun_?” he asked gruffly.

“Aa, yes!” said Takagi- _keiji_ , pulling out his notebook and flipping through the pages to reach the notes he had written about on the current case. “Okita Nao, aged seventeen. She was found at nine-thirty-two am in the bathroom with her wrists slit by five witnesses when they had come over to give Okita- _san_ some cookies. Initial reports mark this as a suicide.”

Megure- _keibu_ nodded, already writing up the report in his head, but he stopped when he heard a familiar voice go, “Ah, re, re? Isn’t this strange?” Megure- _keibu_ gave Takagi- _keiji_ a hard look, to which Takagi- _keiji_ chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

“Did I not mention that the five witnesses were the Shōnen Tantei- _dan_?” he stated apprehensively.

Megure- _keibu_ sighed; there went the easy case. After all, nothing was every simple when Conan- _kun_ was around. He walked to the bathroom to see Conan- _kun_ talking to one of the crime scene analysts about the corpse. Ayumi- _chan_ , Genta- _kun_ , Mitsuhiko- _kun_ , and Ai- _kun_ were also there, but they were looking for various clues using their torches despite the area being well-lit; or, at least, the first three were: Ai- _kun_ was watching the proceedings with the usual bored and cold look on her face.

Okita Nao had been a fairly pretty girl, with raven black hair and pale skin; although, the paleness could be account for the loss of blood rather than her natural skin colour. Her wrists had been cut and put into the tub filled with water, the blood causing the water to turn a pale pink. Judging by the rigidness of her spine, rigour mortis had already set in, and Megure-keibu inwardly mourned the loss of a young life. It was always saddening to see the potential of children snuffed away, by someone else’s hands or by their own.

Still, there were two children whose potential he knew would never be stifled, and Megure- _keibu_ looked one of them in the eye, a resigned air surrounding him.

“Conan- _kun_ , why am I not surprised,” Megure- _keibu_ said dryly, and Conan- _kun_ looked up to smile at Megure- _keibu_ , apparently not understanding the inspector’s tone.

“Good morning, Megure- _keibu_!” he chirped cheerfully, obviously still not proficient in reading the air, which was soon echoed by the rest of the Shōnen Tantei- _dan_. “As I was just telling to Yamamoto- _san_ , there seems to be something strange on the victim’s back!”

Megure- _keibu_ gave Conan- _kun_ a considering look, to which he blinked innocently at. “‘Victim’, Conan- _kun_? What makes you say that?”

“Well, Okita- _nee-chan_ seems to be a Kaitō Kid fan, judging by the posters in her bedroom, and there was a Kaitō Kid heist yesterday! I don’t think such a huge fan of Kaitō Kid would be sad enough that they’d kill themselves after seeing their idol get the jewel he was after, ne? Plus, there’s this!”

Conan- _kun_ pointed at the part of Okita Nao’s back that was uncovered by her shirt. Megure- _keibu_ peered closer at it, and he let out a hiss, air escaping from his lips. That was definitely not self-inflicted: an angry red line, still relatively new and, judging by the look of it, had been made while Okita Nao had been alive.

“Take off the victim’s shirt,” Megure- _keibu_ ordered the crime scene analyst, who dug through his kit to grab scissors before cutting the shirt off. He inhaled sharply at the sight of what was on Okita Nao’s back, and he noticed Conan- _kun_ paling out of the corner of his eye ( which wasn’t a surprise despite all the crime scenes he had seen, considering just what was carved onto Okita Nao’s back ).

With a smug grin in bright, blood red, the Kaitō Kid logo had been etched into her back and mocked them all with his usual elusive smile.


	2. Chapter 1

_The Night Before…_

The audience outside at the heist was as energised as usual, posters and screams marking the presence of the Kaitō Kid fan club. Nakamori- _keibu_ was once again annoyed by all the shouting, unable to understand why normal citizens were cheering such an antagonising criminal on. He smoked from his pipe in an attempt to calm himself, but judging from how tightly his teeth were biting onto the stem of the pipe, it wasn’t working.

The target of the heist this time was the Heart of the Ocean, a beautiful sapphire necklace originally owned by an unidentified Asprey client, but it seemed that Suzuki Jirokichi managed to find the owner and bought it from him, considering he was claiming to have it in his possession. The day after the sapphire necklace was acquired by Suzuki Jirokichi, Kaitō Kid had sent his challenge to Suzuki Jirokichi ( who had immediately sent it to the media ), stating that he would capture the jewel next week at the time when the ocean’s tide would be the strongest, which analysts put during the night of the new moon. The exact time wasn’t exactly known, but it was assumed to be at the time the new moon was highest at the sky: at midnight.

Despite the short notice, Suzuki Jirokichi rallied marvellously. He couldn’t build his own personal aquarium, but he rented out the Beika Aquarium and placed the jewel in the middle of the tunnel surrounded by aquatic wildlife. The jewel itself was placed in its own tank, glittering quite prettily in the glass case, with differently coloured “water” put in levels below the jewel. The necklace, of course, was not to be made to fall into the water; there was a glass seal separated the Heart of the Ocean from the rest of the water-filled tank.

Of course, in a probably unintentional effort to make Nakamori- _keibu’s_ job harder and Kaitō Kid’s job easier, the aquarium stayed open despite the time and the heist, probably in an attempt to get more money. Thus, the tunnel was filled with people milling around, excited chattering charging the site with energy. In fact, the tunnel had gotten so full that they had to stop people from coming in, which was why there was so much cheering outside, loud enough so that everyone inside could hear them, perhaps not clearly, but there was no mistaking the ‘Kid Kid Kid’ chant that was going on outside.

Nakamori- _keibu_ was eyeing anyone he deemed suspicious, the vein on his forehead almost popping with annoyance due to the cheers outside, and it made Kaitō Kid, also known as Kuroba Kaito but tonight going as Arashi Hitomi, chuckle inwardly. Arashi Hitomi was wearing her usual attire of all black: black skinny jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black leather jacket with black combat boots, her hair as dim as the rest of her clothes aside from the red dye on the tips of her hair. She looked rather intimidating, and it was for that reason other people seemed to be giving her a wide berth. It was also due to awkwardness that they tried to avoid her; she was also quite the unusual girl with an eye-impediment that made her unable to see clearly in bright lights, which was why she had to wear sunglasses indoors, and no one wanted to accidentally be insulting to a girl with a disability. It gave Kid a perfect excuse to block his vision from the f—f—fi— _ **abominations**_ and yet keep an unnoticed eye out on Nakamori- _keibu_ and the rest of the task force.

Kid had also spotted Edogawa Conan ( or, rather, Kudō Shinichi in his pint-sized form ) chatting with a girl in front of the sharks with Mōri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko, but he stayed clear from the detective. Tonight wasn’t about antagonising the detective; although, it was certainly fun, especially teasing him on his crush on Mōri Ran.

It was no surprise that Edogawa Conan was his favourite critic, considering the Heisei Holmes was the only one who had ever came the closest to capturing him ( Hakuba Saguru, his annoying classmate, was a close second, but he usually only took out Kid’s initial plan and was unable to catch up when Kid started going on the fly; Edogawa Conan could follow him until Kid pulled a last-ditch effort in order to escape, his blood singing with the adrenaline rushing through his veins ).

While he was pretty sure tonight’s jewel was not Pandora ( considering it was made after the movie Titanic was created; not exactly a long and bloody history ), he was determined to do his best to get the jewel. After all, his pride wouldn’t allow otherwise.

A smirk crossed his ( or, rather, Hitomi’s ) face when his mental clock ticked towards midnight. It was _showtime_.

The previously set smoke-bombs went off at exactly midnight, obscuring the glass tank from view. Everyone’s attention was directed towards the tank, and that was when Hitomi duck away to become Kaitō Kid. Just as the smoke dispersed, Kid landed on the top of the case with nary a sound, seemingly appearing from out of nowhere.

“ _Ladies and gentlemen_ , welcome to the show!” he greeted, beginning in English as usual. His twinkling eye sparkled at the audience, most of which cheering his name, even inside of the tunnel. Nakamori- _keibu_ almost bit off the stem of his pipe as he shouted his usual utterances, something about Kid being a bastard and how he was going to capture Kid; Kid paid the words no attention; although, he did smirk at Nakamori- _keibu’s_ direction, shaking his head and tsk’ing at the same time.

“There’s **children** in the audience, Nakamori- _keibu_ ,” he exclaimed as if shocked and aghast by his harsh language. Judging from the way his eyes trailed to Edogawa Conan, who was separated from Kid due to the rather large crowd, it was clear who he meant. Edogawa gritted his teeth in annoyance when the realisation hit him, noticeable even from where Kid was standing, and Kid smirked at the younger boy.

“Get him!” Nakamori- _keibu_ shouted towards the men in the crowd, and they attempted to push through the audience, who were ‘accidentally’ in the way of the police officers.

Kid almost sparkled with pure amusement before a surprised look crossed his face. “Magicians usually say that they have nothing up their sleeves, but there seems to suddenly be a rather heavy weight on my wrist…”

With a concerned frown, he moved his sleeves up and — the Heart of the Ocean’s necklace was wrapped around his wrist, the jewel glittering quite prettily in the light.

There was a swell of silence as everyone stood frozen, taking in the almost impossible sight of Kid having the Heart of the Ocean within a few moments, and then loud screams began, cheers ripping apart the silence. It was almost deafening, the level of noise that was created when Kid showed he had the jewel, and it made the task force wince.

Kid seemed to bask in the attention, bowing to his audience and sending a wink to Nakamori- _keibu_. “Now, as the night is getting late, I must go bestow this beautiful jewel named for the hidden depths of the ocean to the night’s sky. I bid you all, adieu!” There was another burst of smoke, and the thief and the jewel was gone. Nakamori- _keibu_ was cursing quite loudly at that, even as Edogawa Conan stared at the case ( which no longer had the jewel ) with analytical eyes.

Kid chuckled at the attention Edogawa gave the case from underneath the face of Arashi Hitomi, pocketing the fake Heart of the Ocean in one of his many hidden pockets. Oh, he had the real jewel, of course, but it wasn’t yet in his possession. Judging from the considering look Edogawa was giving to the jewel’s tank, he was starting to realise that, and Kid needed to book it before Edogawa realised where the real jewel was.

He joined the crowd as they were starting to leave before ducking through an employee only door before the exit. He wouldn’t need a new disguise for this part — he could be in and out before anyone was the wiser. Walking so that he was always out of the sight of the cameras, he made it to where the water for that specific tank flowed and picked up the jewellery from the water’s depths, inspecting it for any damage.

Luckily for him, there seemed to be none, and something that had been tense in his shoulders relaxed. It had been a struggle, debating whether or not to go to this heist or not after finding out that Suzuki Jirokichi was hosting this at an aquarium, filled with his only weakness, but he had already sent out the challenge to Suzuki Jirokichi ( who had immediately spilt it to the newspapers ), and his pride wouldn’t have allowed himself to quit.

At least he didn’t have to deal with f—fi— _ **those things**_ at this part of the heist.

Just as he moved to put the necklace away, there was something about it that had caught his eye, and he frowned. Was that a — He took out the white, soggy paper that was imbedded in-between part of the chains of the necklace, but the water made it illegible to read. Inwardly shrugging, he chucked the note into the trash can and inspected the necklace for any more surprises. With none found, he tucked the Heart of the Ocean with the fake one and whistled as he left the room.

There was going to be no confrontation with Edogawa Conan, which was disappointing. Perhaps this one had been too hard for the detective? Not many could realise that Kid had helped to install the tank and therefore changed the glass so that a hole the size of the necklace would appear when the smoke bombs went off, and thus the necklace would sink to the bottom of the tank where it would make a journey to this room here; although, he would have expected Edogawa Conan to figure that out.

Kid shrugged mentally. There’d be other heists for the two of them to have their fun. For now, he was just going to bask in the glory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also debated on whether or not to put this in the prologue or not, considering that the next chapter induces quite a time-skip, but I think the end of the prologue is rather dramatic and stands well on its own.


	3. Chapter 2

Three weeks later and there were still no clues as to who had murdered Okita Nao in order to carve Kaitō Kid’s symbol on her back. Conan had been mentally going through the crime scene ever since they had to leave Okita Nao’s apartment without any clues but remembered nothing of worth. It was frustrating, to not being able to solve this crime, especially if it involved Kid.

He wondered if he was slipping; he hadn’t been able to solve the trick to Kid’s heist until after the thief had left, and now he couldn’t solve Okita Nao’s murder. Was being de-aged slowly messing with his mind, making him think as he did in that age? No, if that was true, it would have started happening two years ago, when he was initially shrunken, and Haibara would have found it on her scans.

So, he’d just have to blame himself instead of the Apotoxin. _**Joy**_.

“Conan- _kun_?”

Ayumi’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, and Conan smiled as he replied, “Ne, Ayumi?”

It was clear that she was worried ( eyes slightly narrowed, eyebrows furrowed, her body posture was hunched towards him, as if to attempt to comfort him ), and she spoke, “Ne…Conan- _kun_ , are you still thinking about that murder case where the girl had Kaitō Kid- _san’s_ on her back?”

The fact that she had to specify which murder case really speaks a lot about my life, Conan thought dryly ( for he had stumbled on three more murder cases after Okita Nao’s ) before shaking his head. “I’m not! I was just thinking about the homework due tomorrow.”

The relief was just as palpable as the worry as Ayumi’s body language completely relaxed at the lie, and her expression smoothed out into her usual cheerful smile. “I’m sure you’ll do fine, Conan- _kun_! Ne, did you want to hang out with Genta- _kun_ and Mitsuhiko- _kun_ and Ai- _chan_ and me today?”

Conan winced. “I’m sorry, but I promised Heiji- _nii-chan_ that I’d give him a call today before the Kaitō Kid heist in Ōsaka! Maybe some other time?”

Ayumi nodded brightly. “Un! Okay, have a nice day, Conan- _kun_! See you tomorrow!”

“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow!”

They waved at each other as they walked out of school in different directions, and Conan felt a little pang of guilt at the lie. While it was true he was going to call Hattori, he certainly hadn’t promised to do so, since Hattori didn’t even know he was going to call.

His pride didn’t like it, but he was going to bring Hattori into the case of Okita Nao. Perhaps it was too late now, considering how much time had passed, but some instinct was telling him that Okita Nao was not going to be the last to be murdered; only the first.

He decided to go to the Kudō house instead of the Mōri Agency because he knew that Ran would get upset over the fact that he was discussing the case. She had been worried for a while, considering Conan spent all his free time pouring into the case file, trying to find some hint, something that he missed, and she had taken to banning him from looking at any more cases and forcing him to go play outside with his friends.

He’d admit, he _**was**_ getting a bit obsessive over the case, but leaving any murderer go unpunished was a big ‘no’ in his books.

He knew, of course, that the best source of information would be from Kid, but he had no way to contact the thief. No, even when Kid had helped him and Hattori take down the Black Organisation, he had come on his own terms, usually with information in hand or a helpful disguise or two.

In fact, the whole success of the operation depended on Kid disguising as Kudō Shinichi, as the pills that temporarily returned him to his older state wouldn’t last long enough — not in the stressed out state he would have been.

Of course, he wished that with the fall of the organisation, he could have been back to his real body by now — Ran was already a second year sophomore in college while he was stuck as a fourth grader again, and it was…upsetting. Two years without a clue about the possible antidote, and while Haibara was still working on it, even he could tell that two years without any results was draining Haibara’s will to continue. Even he was starting to lose hope about gaining his former body but —

Conan shook his head physically as if to dispel himself of these thoughts. No, this was not the time to think about how he’d probably be stuck going through puberty again ( of losing Ran ). He had to focus on the murder case.

He blinked as he realised that he was in front of the Kudō residence; he had utterly blanked out on the walk here, which was definitely a bad thing. He made a compulsory look around to make sure no one was watching him now before he unlocked the gate with the spare key hidden in one of the grass beds and walked inside of his house.

Okiya Subaru didn’t seem to be in right now; although judging from the preparation on the table, he was getting ready to cook something again. He smiled faintly at the signs of life in the house — it had been empty for so long — before making his way to his bedroom. The library was private, but there was no telling when Okiya would get back home.

Sitting on his fūton, he took out Conan’s phone and dialled Hattori’s number. It only took three rings for the other detective to pick up.

“Yo, Ku — nan. Whatcha need?” was the cheerful greeting. Hattori still hadn’t managed to call him ‘Conan’ straight off the bat, but he supposed that there could be worse things than being called ‘Kunan’.

“Yo, Hattori,” he stated, his voice taking on the lower register he used when he spoke as Kudō Shinichi rather than as Edogawa Conan. “Ready for the Kaitō Kid heist tonight?”

He could almost _**see**_ Hattori’s blood-thirsty grin. While they had gotten along well enough when all three of them had been working together to take the Black Organisation out, there had been a friendly rivalry between Kid and Hattori — much friendlier than the rivalry between Conan and Kid — and Kid had promised to hold a heist in Ōsaka at some point so that they could finally face off against each other.

Now, a few months later, it seemed that Kid was finally going to keep his promise.

“Tha’ guy won’t know wha’ hit ‘im!” he stated confidently — almost cockily. Conan had to chuckle at that. He wondered who would get the best of who tonight, and he wished that he could go to see it ( and maybe help Hattori out; see how Kid would like it with two detectives on his tail ). However, Ōsaka was deemed too far away on a school night, and Ran was forcing him to stay at home.

“But th’ heist isn’t why ya called, righ’?” Hattori asked sharply ( Hattori had always been able to read him well ), and Conan let out a sigh.

“There was a murder case three weeks ago, and there are still no clues,” he stated warily, knowing what was about to happen, and he could almost hear Hattori’s ego swell up.

“An’ ya called me ta help ya out, huh? ‘Course, ya did, considerin’ I’m th’ better — “

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, you’re the better detective, blah blah blah,” Conan stated, rolling his eyes. “Hattori, there was a corpse found with the Kaitō Kid logo on her back, carved into her while she was still alive.”

There was a beat of silence before Hattori’s voice returned, sounding serious. “Do ya think tha’ he — “

“ _ **No**_ ,” retorted Conan sharply. “No, you and I both know that while he's not _completely_ nonviolent, he doesn't like to hurt or kill anyone. He hadn’t even liked helping to physically taking down the Black Organisation with you and me. No, it’s a message directed at him, and there might be another one after tonight’s heist.”

“I’ll keep an eye out on the bastard, but he probably already knows about this,” stated Hattori in a confident tone. “Tha’ guy doesn’ let any information pass him by, especially if it about him.”

“You’re probably right,” Conan stated with a sigh. “Still. Be careful just in case.”

“Ya got it, Ku — nan. Are there any clues on th’ murder victim?”

“None,” responded Conan with a frustrated sigh. “She had no enemies, a lot of friends, but she knew a ton of people through the Kaitō Kid fan club — she was the president — so I couldn’t personally vet all of the people she had ever known or met. There’s too high of a suspect pool, even if we just focus on the Kaitō Kid fan club, and even _**Sonoko**_ would be a suspect.

“The criminal didn’t leave any clues in the apartment, and all we know is that it’s connected with Kid _somehow_. But with no way to contact him…” Conan trailed off.

“Yikes, if ya can’t see any clues, then there’s probably no clues ta be seen,” Hattori stated thoughtfully. “If I can, I’ll ask Kid about it tonigh’, but we’ll see if he’ll dose me with some stuff or somethin’.”

“Thanks, Hattori,” stated Conan gratefully.

“No problem, Ku — nan! Ya can always call yer master in the art of detectin’ for help!” he responded cheerfully, and before Conan could respond, Hattori hung up the phone call without even a ‘oops, gotta go, talk ta ya la’er bye’.

He stared at his phone with a raised eyebrow, and he couldn’t help but hope that Kid would prank Hattori in some way during the heist tonight. The jerk deserved it.


	4. Chapter 3

Heiji was nearly bouncing up and down in excitement for the heist, ignoring the disparaging looks and the glare of hostility from the task force and Nakamori- _keibu_. He didn’t condone what Kid was doing, even when it helped them take down the Black Organisation, but he had heard about heists from Kudō and knew that they were pretty fun to be a part of, especially during the chase. It was nice to not have to worry about dying because he was chasing a violent murderer or something, and he guessed that was what Kudō liked about Kid heists.

This time was especially going to be fun, considering Kid had sent an invitation to him personally. He assumed that the guy was finally keeping his promise about holding a heist specifically for him, where they’d finally be able to go against each other, and he just couldn’t wait for the heist to start.

As if reading his thoughts, there was a poof smoke on the roof of the building across the street, and the fans outside cheered loudly as the white-cladded figure appeared from the smoke, holding his arms high and out.

“ _Ladies and gentlemen_ ,” he began in crystal clear English, loud enough for even Heiji to hear behind the closed window, which was pretty surprising. “Welcome to the show! However, before we begin, I would like for us to have a moment of silence to Okita Nao, who was the president of my fan club. Her life was taken far too soon, and we must honour that with our silence.”

At his words, the entire crowd had fallen silent, and Heiji thought he could vaguely see some people starting to cry. Even the task force was quiet; they couldn’t deny this wish of Kid’s, not for this kind of stuff.

Heiji, while sad about the loss of life, was more analytical of the moment, considering what Kudō had told him. Kid didn’t seem upset, but the guy locked up his emotions tighter than the Iron Tanuki ( and considering he heard from Kudō, that Kid could actually open that impossible safe, that wasn’t saying too much ), and he couldn’t read his body language. However, he had to guess that Kid did know about what was carved on the girl’s back if he knew about the murder ( especially since it hadn’t been on the news; although, now that Kid had brought attention to it, now it would be ).

After a few minutes had passed, Kid clapped his hands, the sound echoing in the silence. It had its effect and startled everyone out of the mourning they had fallen into. He gave the crowd his usual wide, heist grin and stated, “Now, let’s cheer ourselves up with this wonderful performance I have for you all today! This heist will be in honour Okita Nao, and I hope your spirit has found peace.”

With that said, Kid’s cape snapped into his hang glider, and he flew towards the room with the target of the heist and where the task force and Heiji was. Heiji stared with wide eyes at Kid’s descent. Was he not going to sto —

Just as he was seemingly about to crash into the window and sprinkle glass over everywhere, Kid stopped before the window, landing in order to stand in mid-air. Heiji made a mental note to check for glass when the heist was over, but somehow he had a feeling he’d find nothing.

Continuing to stand without a care in the world, Kid knocked on the glass, the thud clear reverberating in the room. Without meaning to, all of them stood with bated breath, wondering just how he was going to get in. After all, that was solid glass, and without breaking it, Heiji couldn’t see a way into the room.

Kid continued to knock on the window, and Heiji almost made the joke that perhaps Kid was waiting for them to let him in when Kid’s hand, instead of knocking on the window, appeared to go through it. Stunned silent, Heiji was attempting to analyse just how that was possible, and he could only watch as Kid’s arm followed after the first, then a shoulder, then his head… — until Kid had finally, somehow, pushed through he window without breaking the glass.

Kid smiled quite cockily at the task force and Heiji as he stated with a wink, “Looks like there will be no charge on _**breaking**_ and entering tonight.”

Amazingly, Nakamori- _keibu_ was the first one to snap out of his shock ( probably because he had to deal with Kid’s impossible magic tricks more often than Heiji, who was still trying to figure out how the hell Kid had just done that ) as he pointed to Kid and yelled, “Get him!”

The task force jumped, literally, into action at Nakamori- _keibu’s_ command, attempting to get Kid at the bottom of the dog pile. With a laugh, Kid leaped high above the heads of the members of the task force, flipping in mid-air so that he would land perfectly on his feet. More members on the task force continued to try to grab him, and Kid continued to flip and dodge over and away from the officers, occasionally landing on their heads and using them as a footstool to jump even higher.

With a grin, Heiji grabbed the _bokken_ he had brought in with him ( wooden, of course ) and swung where he had predicted Kid to land. It seemed that the blow would connect until Kid bent almost completely in half so that the _bokken_ would go over his stomach.

Using his momentum, Kid fell into a backhand spring, moving far enough away so that he wouldn’t be in the range of Heiji’s _bokken_ , and Heiji held it straight out so that he was holding onto it with two hands in the proper kendo position.

Kid’s eyes seemed to almost sparkle at Heiji as he wagged his finger at Heiji as he smoothly stated, “Maa, tantei- _han_ , that could have been dangerous.”

Heiji squared his shoulder with a smirk. “If ya had gotten hit by that attack, I woulda **laughed**.”

“How cruel,” Kid responded with the slightest hint of a pout in his voice, even as his eyes continued to sparkle in what seemed to be genuine amusement. Heiji smirked in return.

The two of them seemed to ignore the exhausted task force officers surrounding them, but their attention was pulled from each other when Nakamori- _keibu_ seemed to get red with rage as he shouted, “Kid! I’ll capture you yet!”

“Nakamori- _keibu_ , don’t get so jealous. There’ll be other heists where you’ll have your chance,” Kid stated soothingly, and Nakamori- _keibu_ gritted his teeth in annoyance.

“Shut up!” he yelled, lunging at Kid, and Kid swung out of the way so that Nakamori- _keibu_ would fall into Heiji instead. Heiji, predicting this move, managed to dodge him, and he stared at Nakamori- _keibu’s_ sleeping form ( since when did Kid made Nakamori- _keibu_ fall asleep? ) in amazement.

In the time it had taken him to look up and away from Nakamori- _keibu_ , Kid had apparently already crossed the room to go for the jewel ( Heiji hadn’t really paid attention to the name or the history of the jewel, just when and where the heist was going to be; the jewel really didn’t matter, capturing Kid did ), which he somehow had in his hands already.

“Ya itchin’ ta leave so I don’t capture ya?” Heiji asked with a confident smirk, balancing his _bokken_ on his shoulder.

“Oh, just making sure that when I do get away, I’ll have my goal well in hand,” he stated with a sparkling grin before bowing. “Now, tantei- _han_ , as interesting as having a sword fight might be with you, I — whoa!”

Kid managed to side-step out of the way as Heiji swung his _bokken_ at where his head had been bowed, and he raised an eyebrow at Heiji even as he continued to dodge Heiji’s swings.

“That could have really been dangerous, tantei- _han_. You’re so mean, attacking when my head was lowered ~ ” he stated with a pout, ducking as Heiji’s _bokken_ aimed for his head again.

“Hey, ya th’ one who gave th’ openin’. I’m just usin’ every ample opportunity,” Heiji stated with a thrilled smirk playing at his lips. _Kendo_ and mysteries were some of the only things that got his blood racing, and this was somewhat a mixture of both. Thus, he was having a lot of _**fun**_.

“Ooh, **ample** opportunity? Should I have been wearing breasts to this heist?” Kid stated with a wink, and Heiji blushed without even meaning to, spluttering incoherently at Kid in a mixture of embarrassment and anger. With a laugh, Kid took the opportunity to jump towards the window, the same one he had entered in from and — Heiji hadn’t even realised that Kid had been dodging in order to lead them both back here.

“You’re a rather good dance partner, tantei- _han_ , and I’m glad to have shared this dance with you ~ ” Kid stated with a wink, and Heiji, knowing what was going to happen, made one last lunge with his _bokken_ , but he was too late — Kid had already, somehow, gone through the window once again.

Heiji closed the distance to the window, blinking in surprise when the window didn’t seem to be there ( but it had been there earlier? ) and he was able to stick his head out to see if he could attempt to catch a glimpse of the white-cladded magician, but there was no sign of him anywhere, not even on his glider.

Heiji let out a sigh — not only had he not been able to hit the thief, but he hadn’t been able to retrieve the jewel either — but he’d never admit to the grin playing on his lips.


	5. Chapter 4

Kid whistled as he held the gem up to the moonlight — it was habit by now, despite knowing that this gem was most likely _**not**_ Pandora — and the Aquamarine reflected a pale blue light on the rooftop. He smiled before tucking the jewel into his pocket; he’d return it to the police station tomorrow, along with his usual cryptic note.

He had enjoyed this heist: playing with Hattori Heiji. Making him blush was almost as entertaining as making Edogawa Conan blush; although, one of his innuendos had gotten over his head. Still, it was fun to focus a bit more on the physical aspects of the heists, such as dodging; it had gotten his blood pumping in a different way, and his mind _had_ been working fast during that “fight.”

Kid stood up and stretched, already in his black outfit to blend into the night sky, when he noticed something on the rooftop he hadn’t noticed before. With a small frown — had someone come to the rooftop after he had made his daring jump to grab the jewel or had that already been there? — he moved to pick up the paper, held down by a small paperweight ( which would explain how it managed to stay in place despite the strong winds ). However, a much stronger gust of wind blew across the rooftop, ripping the paper and sending it off and away. He debated whether or not trying to go after it, but it was flying in the opposite direction of his nearby safehouse, and he was sure it wasn’t that important anyway.

With a mental shrug, Kid turned on his hang glider and flew away, aiming for some rest.

—

Kaito was reading the online newspaper on his phone as he usually did before class started. To his not-surprise, the heist last night was the top story, and he inwardly laughed at how people still didn’t know how he did his trick. Maybe he’d do it again and this time really cement his place as the world’s greatest magician ( and do it in front of Edogawa Conan, who was really the biggest critic of his magic tricks ).

“Good morning, Kaito,” was Aoko’s unusual listless greeting, and Kaito looked up from his phone in surprise. It wasn’t like Aoko to be so lifeless; usually she was filled with energy, ready to smack him with a mop if he did even the slightest thing wrong.

“What’s wrong, Aoko?” he asked with concern, and it only grew seeing the redness of her eyes. He internally panicked — had something happened to Nakamori- _kei_ —

Aoko placed her head on Kaito’s shoulder, her back hunched as if trying to hide away from the world, and he gently placed an arm around her back to bring her in closer. He could feel her shaking a little in his arms, and the concern almost grew into panic when she spoke, “Do you remember Eriko- _oba-san_?”

Kaito blinked. “Yeah, she's one of the officers on your dad’s task force. Is she okay?”

Aoko sniffed before stating with a voice choked with tears already released yet with more left, “Eriko- _oba-san_ was murdered last night after the Kid heist. They found her this morning in Ōsaka at the building of the heist.”

Kaito paled. This wasn’t — had this been _**Snake**_? It wouldn’t make sense, it wasn’t in his m.o. to try to kill, or in this case kill, anyone who wasn’t Kid unless they were in the way. However, if Snake had been the one to murder her, then why hadn’t he confronted Kid or tried to shoot him with a sniper again?

He was torn from his thoughts when Aoko began to speak again, her voice muffled by how hard she was pressing into his shoulder. “I hate Kid. I _**hate**_ him. If it wasn’t for him, then Eriko- _oba-san_ would be alive. It was after _**his**_ stupid heist that she was _killed_.”

Kaito winced inwardly but outwardly moved his other arm so that he was completely encircling her in a hug. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, with him sitting and Aoko having to lean over in order to press her face into his shoulder, but he was going to make it work and inject as much comfort as he could.

“Yeah, I hate him too,” he stated with a released breath, too quiet for even her to hear despite their close proximity, and gave her comfort as his shoulder became wet.

—

After getting Aoko to leave school early and promising that he’d give her his notes ( the fact that they didn’t have a test probably helped her make her decision ), his mind raced while he was taking notes in class.

There was something weird about Eriko- _oba-san_ being murdered right after a Kid heist, and he knew there was some detail he was missing, something niggling in the back of his head.

“You look distracted, Kuroba- _kun_ ,” stated a familiar voice, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Kaito glanced up with a blink to see that class had ended and lunch break had begun without his noticing ( but at least he seemed to have written down his notes concisely and completely ).

“Aa, just a little bit, Koizumi.” Denying otherwise was just petty, especially since he _did_ have a reason to be distracted ( however, he’d only allow himself to mourn Eriko- _oba-san_ after he captured whoever the hell murdered her ).

Koizumi Akako, witch of their high school class of 2-B two years ago and still following him in university, smiled prettily in his direction. It only made his eyes narrow in suspicion — he didn’t really trust Koizumi, for as much as she helped him, she also hindered him as well, and he never knew when she might try to make a deal that would involve him falling in love with her or being her servant or something.

“Aa, I saw Nakamori- _san_ crying earlier. I hope she’s alright?” she asked with what seemed to be genuine concern, and something in Kaito’s somewhat harsh expression lightened.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine. Eriko- _oba-san_ was one of her biggest babysitters when Nakamori- _keibu_ was busy and Eriko- _oba-san_ was done with work. They were pretty close,” he admitted vaguely, just barely managing to resist the urge to clench his fists.

Koizumi hummed. “Please express to Nakamori-san my condolences.”

Kaito nodded with a sharp inclination of his head. “I will.”

There was a pause, and it looked almost as if Koizumi was debating on whether or not to say something. Then, her back straightened as her usual superior smirk crossed her face before.

“There’s an interesting shadow hanging over you, Kuroba- _kun_. I would suggest you be careful, before it gets too dark.” With that cryptic statement, Koizumi walked off with a wave, leaving Kaito staring at her thoughtfully. While he didn’t really like magic, or at least the magic Koizumi used, it was true that her warnings were usually right.

Still, he couldn’t afford to be too careful, especially if diving headfirst through the ‘shadow’ and making it darker would be the only way to capture the murderer of Eriko- _oba-san_. He had prepared to live with the choice that his life might be cut drastically short, but he had never wanted other people to get hurt because of him. He was going to find the murderer before they could hurt anyone else.

Guess that meant another trip to Ōsaka. Hopefully, there would be a train ticket available on the _shinkansen_ to Ōsaka.

—

He was dressed in one of his strongest disguises, Morimoto Akane, for the trip. She was a red-haired, half-American and half-Japanese woman who had just recently moved to Japan; although, she was fluent in both Japanese and English since her mother had wanted Akane to be able to speak her native language.

She was different from his usual disguises due to the fact that she stood out ( one couldn’t dress in American style clothes and had bright red, obviously bottle, hair without standing out, after all ) and had an entire backstory to her character. He only had a few of these kinds of disguises, and no one had ever realised that he was a different person.

However, it seemed that the Akane disguise would be put to the test as, low and behold, Edogawa Conan had entered onto the train from the station in Beika and was sitting next to him.

Hopefully, Kaito wouldn’t be found out ( oh, Benten, please don’t let him figure it out ).


	6. Chapter 5

Conan’s eyebrows furrowed when he heard his cellphone ringing, and his eyes blink open. He apparently moved during the night so that he was staring right at the clock beside his fūton, and it read 3:02am. With a groan, he rolled over and reached aimlessly for his phone, missing once, twice — on his third attempt, he managed to grab it and open his cellphone.

“Ne?” he stated, stifling the sharp greeting he held on his tongue. Conan wouldn’t respond with any rudeness, but **_Shinichi_** would.

“Kudō, it’s me,” stated Hattori, and Conan scowled aimlessly. If he could have, he would have aimed a ball at the other detective, considering how early it was.

“What, Hattori?” he asked. While Mōri was still in the room, he was deeply asleep despite Conan’s loud ringtone, and he was thankful for the privacy, considering he **_really_** didn’t want to leave his fūton.

“We found another one like yer Okita Nao; th’ victim this time is Iseki Eriko, an officer on th’ Kaitō Kid task force. She had her back carved up like Okita Nao, with th’ Kid symbol, but different this time.”

Conan had already sprung out of his fūton before Hattori even finished his first sentence, debating whether or not he should wait until after school to get to Ōsaka or not, but he was already beginning to pack for his trip anyway ( after all, if he was going to wait until after school, he could just grab his stuff and go — or even take it with him ). The _shinkansen_ didn’t run this late, but maybe he could catch a train when it opened in the morning…He paused packing when Hattori finished speaking, his eyebrows furrowing in thought.

“What do you mean?” Conan asked.

“I mean tha’ his logo is differen’ this time. Instead o’ a grin, it’s a frown and they crossed th’ eye out. I think they’re escalatin’ too, ‘cause Iseki Eriko’s body is a helluva lot messier than how ya told me yer victim was,” stated Hattori solemnly.

Okita Nao’s murder had been pretty clean, aside from the carving of Kaitō Kid’s logo on her back, so it wouldn’t take much of an escalation for the new murder case to be much worse, but judging by the ‘new’ logo on Iseki Eriko’s back, this couldn’t be good.

“Judging by how Okita Nao died, she was alive when the logo was carved onto her back and most likely unconscious when the criminal slit her wrists. I don’t — what was the condition of Iseki Eriko’s body?” asked Conan, not sure if he wanted to know but knowing that he needed to know.

“He was definitely pissed off at somethin’. Before th’ carvin’ even began, th’ victim’s face was mutilated the same way as th’ Kid logo,” said Hattori absently, and Conan could hear the slight shuffle of his clothing that signalled Hattori had just knelt down.

Conan winced at the mental image; for the criminal to have carved an ‘x’ overtop of her eyes…”That definitely sounds like escalation. Something must have happened to him, but what? And is it connected with Kid? After all, the logo’s changed too, to Kid being, well, dead.”

“I dunno, but whatever happened, it was huge. Can ya hitch a ride to Ōsaka today? It’d be good if ya could look at the crime scene; or at least th’ photos if ya gotta come after school.”

“I’ll ask Ran if I can go before school, but I doubt she’ll let me,” confirmed Conan. “Thanks for the update, Hattori.”

“Yo, no problem, Ku — nan. See ya soon.”

“See you, Hattori.”

He hung up with the pleasantries done, looking at the clock ( which read 3:25am ) with slight mourning. There was no way he was going to be able to go back to sleep after this, not with another body. Hattori hadn’t mentioned finding any clues, which meant that they were once again stuck with nothing to go on aside from analysing his psychological profile.

What would have been the cause of escalation? Perhaps the heists? The appearance of Kid himself? There seemed to be a new body every time a heist occurs; although, the pattern only has two variables. Somehow, though, Conan didn’t want to test it out with a third — no, they needed to stop the criminal now before he could hurt any more people.

He didn’t know anything about Iseki Eriko yet, but Kid was the obvious connection to the two victims: Okita Nao being the president of the Kaitō Kid fan club and Iseki Eriko was an officer on the Kaitō Kid task force. Jealousy of their “closeness” to Kid, perhaps? Or maybe they wanted to hurt Kid; the loss of his fan club’s president and a member of the task force, both of which he is rather protective of, would definitely cause Kid some pain. After all, he wasn’t a **_monster_**.

So, it was either someone who really loved Kid or really hated Kid, and neither of those really lowered the suspect pool down at all.

He was startled from his thoughts when he heard Ran’s alarm ring from the next room, and he glanced at the clock, which now read 5:00am. He had been thinking for the past hour and a half without managing to narrowing the suspect pool down, and it was **_frustrating_**.

Hattori had told him last night, aft er the heist was over, that he was pretty sure that Kid knew about Okita Nao and the logo carved into her back, but had been unable to confirm it. Could Kid be running his own side-investigation? Could he have possibly made the suspect pool smaller?

With no way to contact Kid, until the next heist, Conan couldn’t know, and it frustrated him: the fact that he could have information, close at hand, yet so far out of reach.

He put away his fūton when he heard Ran leave her room to cook breakfast for the three of them and their bentō boxes, got dressed, and then grabbed the backpack filled with clothes and other equipment he may need in Ōsaka.

He left the room he shared with Mōri and went into the kitchen, where Ran was already cleaning the rice to put in the rice cooker. “Good morning, Ran- _nee-chan_!”

Ran startled, thankfully not spilling any of the water or the rice, as she turned around to look at Conan with shock before a smile crossed her face. “Good morning, Conan- _kun_! You’re up early today, is there a reason why?”

“Heiji- _nii-chan_ called at three am this morning to tell me about a murder case in Ōsaka. Remember that one murder case last month that I found with the Shōnen Tantei- _dan_?” he asked curiously.

“Which one?” Ran asked in good humour but it was also a serious question — he and the Shōnen Tantei-dan had found a total body count of seven together last month.

“The one that’s still open! Y’know, the one with the Kaitō Kid logo on her back? Well, Heiji- _nii-chan_ said they just found another one like it in Ōsaka. Ne, ne, can I go?” he asked, blinking blue eyes up at Ran.

Ran frowned. Conan knew she hadn’t liked that case at all, considering she had spent the next month obsessing over the case, only stopping when he had a new murder case to solve. “I don’t know, Conan- _kun_. You have school today, and you shouldn’t skip school too much for murder cases, especially this early on!”

“But I don’t have a test today, and it’s better to get to crime scenes as soon as possible in case clues would de — de — break apart and stuff!”  he responded back innocently.

Ran shook her head. “No, sorry, Conan-kun, but you’re going to have to trust in the fact that Heiji- _kun_ knows what he’s doing. You can go after school.”

Conan knew that arguing any further would just lower his chances of going to Ōsaka at all due to the stubborn look in Ran’s eyes. He nodded, a small, disappointed pout coming onto his face and stated a disappointed agreement before going back to his room to grab his backpack for school.

Looks like he was going to have to deal with kiddie school for a few hours. Joy.

—

It was clear to the Shōnen Tantei- _dan_ that Conan was a lot more impatient than usual about getting out of school, but before any of them could interrogate Conan, he was off and running to the station as soon as the bell rang.

Ran had been kind enough to give him enough yen for the _shinkansen_ ticket and any drink that he may want from the vending machine, so it was with a bottle of green tea that he sat down at his seat. He glanced curiously at the person sitting next to him — it was a rather beautiful girl with unnatural red hair ( obviously dyed ) pulled up into a high ponytail and wide, double-lidded brown eyes. Her skin was fairly pale — Japanese and some sort of Caucasian, probably. She was also dressed in quite — quite revealing clothes, he thought as he looked away with a blush on his cheeks ( the problem, or perhaps the advantage depending on perspective, of being at eye-level with a person’s chest was quite obvious with her clothes ).

“Aa, excuse me?” he warbled politely, and the stranger looked at him with a questioning smile on her face.

“Yes?” she asked with a confused blink.

“Sorry if I’m being rude, but I was wondering — are you American?” Conan asked questioningly. Kids tended to be rude enough to come out and ask questions like this, so he didn’t mind divulging his curiosity a little bit.

“Close. I’m half American and half Japanese, and I can speak both rather fluently,” she stated before an excited smile crossed her face. “I just moved to Japan from America, and, ah, I’m Morimoto Akane. It’s nice to meet you!”

“I’m Edogawa Conan! It’s nice to meet you, Akane- _nee-chan_!” he echoed politely back.

“Where are you going today, Conan- _kun_?” she asked with a worried look. “And are you going with anyone?”

“No, I’m going by myself to Ōsaka! Ran- _nee-chan_ said that I could do it since Heiji- _nii-chan_ is meeting me at the station!” It was probably dangerous to tell a stranger that he was going far away without anyone with him, but he somehow didn’t think she was anyone untrustworthy. Please, hopefully the information that someone was waiting for him would deter any possible kidnappers. “How about you, Akane- _nee-chan_?”

“I’m going the same way,” she exclaimed in astonishment, and Conan blinked in surprise. “Maybe you could help me navigate the station in Ōsaka, then — I’ve never been there before.”

“Un! Heiji- _nii-chan_ and I can help you, definitely!” he chirped back cheerfully with a nod.

Akane smiled at him quite prettily, and Conan had to look away to hide his blush. He was in love with Ran, sure, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate a pretty girl smiling at him, right?


	7. Chapter Six

Heiji yawned as he waited for Kudō’s train to come into the station. He had been up all night looking for clues at Iseki Eriko’s crime scene before booking it to class to spend the entire time falling asleep during class and pissing off his teachers and Kazuha, especially since he ran off without an explanation after classes had been over. He knew he was going to catch hell from Kauzha for that, but he figured that the murder case was way more important than worrying about Kazuha’s feelings. 

His eyes brightened when he saw Kudō leave the train, and he started waving towards the shrunken detective. Kudō seemed to have noticed him and gave him a nod, and Heiji blinked in confusion when he realised that Kudō was holding the hand of another girl, who smiled at him. 

He waited until Kudō was closer until he started questioning the two of them. “Yo, Ku — nan, who’s th’ pretty _nee-chan_?” 

“Morimoto Akane, it’s nice to meet you! You must be the famous Hattori Heiji I’ve been hearing about from Conan- _kun_ ,” she greeted cheerfully, and Heiji blinked in confusion. 

“Uh, yeah, sure?” he asked. It wasn’t unusual for people to know who he was — famous Detective of the West after all — but he was wondering what the hell Kudō had said about him. The “innocent” smile on Kudō’s face wasn’t helping to alleviate his worry either. 

A small, mischievous grin crossed his face for a split second before it smoothed out to his usual friendly smile, and he leaned on Kudō, laying his arm on Kudō’s head. He knew Kudō had to be scowling, even if Heiji was only looking at Morimoto, since he hated the slightest dig on his height and being used as a table. Point to Heiji. 

“Oh, yeah, me ‘n Ku — nan are really close. I teach him on how ta become a better detective, y’know?” Heiji stated with a large grin, and Morimoto smiled in amusement. 

“Do you really? I didn’t realise that Conan- _kun_ was a young detective,” she stated with wonder, and Heiji grinned down at Kudō, who was scowling up at Heiji. 

“I just near about taught him everythin’ he know,” stated Heiji proudly. 

“Nu uh! That’s not true! I learnt a lot from Shinichi- _nii-chan_!” retorted Kudō with a glint in his eyes that spelt revenge on Heiji later. 

Morimoto looked confused. “Shinichi- _nii-chan_?” she repeated. 

Now it was Heiji’s turn to look confused. Sure, it had been a while since Kudō had been in the limelight, but more people knew Kudō Shinichi than not. 

“Er, yeah, Kudō Shinichi? The famous high school detective? He’s this guy’s cousin, and **_almost_** as smart of a detective as me,” stated Heiji, moving his arm in order to ruffle Kudō’s hair. Kudō reached up to grab his hair when Heiji finished, as if to stop his hair from getting more messed up, his glare growing in strength, and Heiji smirked. 

“Oh, I’ve just moved here recently from America, so I don’t really know any celebrities and such,” she stated with a shrug, and her ponytail brushed up against the curve between her shoulder and her neck in a way that made both him and Kudō look away with a blush on their cheeks. “But it’s cool that you know such amazing people, Conan- _kun_!” 

“Ah, well…” Kudō trailed off nervously, the blush high on his cheeks, before he cleared his throat and gave Morimoto an innocent grin, his eyes closing as if to hide the emotions in them. “That’s right, before I forget — Heiji- _nii-chan_ , Akane- _nee-chan’s_ never been to Ōsaka before, and she needs help getting out of the station!” 

Heiji grinned at Morimoto. “Well, it’s an amazin’ city! Ōsaka has th’ best _okonomiyaki_ and _takoyaki_ outta all o’ Japan! Ya ever tried any before?” 

Morimoto shook her head. “Um, I’m not quite that fond of…f — f — anything from the ocean.” She shuddered. “Bad experience when I was a child, don’t ask.” 

Which meant that _takoyaki_ and some kinds of _okonomiyaki_ was a no-go. Sucked to be her, though, considering a lot of Japanese food had fish inside of it. He’s not quite sure how she was going to survive shopping, especially in the open markets, since there tended to be fish everywhere. 

“That’s too bad, Akane- _nee-chan_ , because fish is really tasty!” responded Kudō, and Heiji blinked because that wasn’t one of his ‘I’m pretending to be Conan’ responses, that was one of his ‘I just thought of something and I’m trying to pretend I hadn’t’. He wondered what Kudō had gotten from Morimoto being afraid of fish, but he was more curious as to where she was going in Ōsaka without a tour guide. 

“By th’ way, where ya headed? We can help ya get to where yer going if it’s on th’ way to the crime scene,” asked Heiji. 

Morimoto blinked. “Crime scene?” 

Kudō nodded. “Un! For the Kaitō Kid murders. Akane- _nee-chan_ , want to join?” 

Heiji stared at Kudō with shock, not that the shrunken detective could see his expression, considering he was too busy favouring Morimoto with a sharp look. What the hell was up with Kudō? It was one thing to accidentally stumble upon a murder case with a civilian nearby, it was quite another to invite one into a crime scene — especially a stranger who had probably never seen a dead body in her life. 

“Would I be in the way? I think it’d be pretty interesting to see you two work on a case,” she stated with a shy sort of smile, and Heiji nodded without even thinking. 

“Sure, it’d be alrigh’! Th’ crime scene’s pretty bloody, though, if yer not okay with th’ sight o’ blood, ya might want ta be careful,” Heiji warned, and Morimoto grinned at him, her teeth almost sparkling. 

“Don’t worry, I’m used to the sight of blood. After all, women do bleed every month, you know,” she stated with a smirk, and both Heiji and Kudō choked. 

“Aa, tha — that’s true,” Heiji stated weakly. Kazuha never spoke about that kind of stuff, so he wasn’t used to…ah, womanly talk, and it seemed Kudō wasn’t either, by the way he was blushing. 

Morimoto smiled innocently at Heiji, as if not noticing his or Kudō’s embarrassment before gesturing towards a direction. “Ah, should we go now?” 

“Oh, yeah, yeah!” Heiji responded before moving towards the exit, both Kudō and Morimoto walking along side of him. He stared at Morimoto suspiciously when she seemed to almost chuckle, but it seemed as soon as he noticed the amusement, it went away, which was a little bit suspicious. 

Speaking of suspicious…Heiji smiled at Morimoto politely, even as they were nearing the ticket gate. “Actually, _Nee-chan_ , would’ya mind waiting for a few moments? I gotta talk to Ku — nan here about some stuff that I don’t think he’d want other people to hear. Ya know, kids these days.” 

Both Morimoto and Kudō seemed to blink in confusion at the same time, but Morimoto nodded with a slowness that betrayed her confusion. Heiji shot her an even bigger grin and put an arm around Kudō’s neck to drag him along and away from Morimoto. 

As soon as they were a far enough distance away, where they’d be able to keep an eye on each other but Morimoto wouldn’t be able to hear what they were saying, Heiji pulled Kudō closer to him as he asked, “‘Kay, Kudō, tell me what th’ hell was that all about?” 

Kudō’s eyes lost their confusion, and he nodded with a rather grim seriousness. “I think that’s Kid. I never told you, or anyone this, but I found out once that Kid has a severe phobia against fish. ‘Akane- _nee-chan_ ’ seems to have the same — and acts the same was as Kid does whenever the subject of fish is brought up. It wouldn’t surprise me if he decided to come check out the crime scene himself, especially if he was going to create his own separate investigation.” 

Heiji nodded along with the explanation, his mind coming up with their own deduction, “And he came in a disguise so that no one would know who he is. Tha’ would make sense.” 

“So, we might as well go along with it for now until Kid tells us himself — better to stick close to him and see what he investigates than to separate and lose pieces of information that probably only he has,” stated Kudō before he grinned. “So, continue to blush at him, Hattori.” 

“Hey, he’s good at disguisin’ and don’t think I didn’t see ya blushing too, Kudō,” stated Heiji with a shrug. 

Interestingly, Kudō started to blush a little bit on his cheeks, and Heiji grinned ( there was obviously a story there, and he definitely wanted to know what it was ) in complete amusement. “Ooh, did someone see somethin’ tha’ they shouldn’t’ve?” 

“We should probably go back before Kid thinks we’re suspecting him,” Kudō stated with a grumble, avoiding the question, and, still grinning, Heiji let him. There’d be chances to hear the story yet, probably from Kid as soon as he told them he was Morimoto.

“Whatever ya say, Kudō,” he responded cheerfully and pulled Kudō into another headlock as they walked back to Kid. 


	8. Chapter Seven

_Chapter Seven_

It was a good thing Edogawa hadn’t noticed the bug he placed on him as they were walking off the train, Kid thought to himself. It had certainly allowed him to eavesdrop on his and Hattori’s conversation, and let him know that they had basically figured him out. 

Perhaps the f — f — admitting his fear as Morimoto Akane was obvious, but there was no way that he was going to eat **_those_** **_things_**. 

Suppressing a shudder, he gave them both a cheerful smile when they returned and stated, “Finished with your guy-only conversation? You’re going to make a girl feel alienated.” ( Hey, just because they figured him out didn’t mean he couldn’t have fun. )

Edogawa grinned up at him, sparkling eyes radiating mischief. “Don’t worry, Akane- _nee-chan_ , we’ll invite you to the next one!” 

Kid choked underneath his poker face, but Akane only continued to smile cheerfully. “That sounds great, Conan- _kun_! Should we get moving now? And what are we going to do first; go to the crime scene?” He also didn’t need to be subtle if they knew who he really was. 

“We can do that, if ya want,” Heiji stated with a nod, and they finally started moving towards the exit again. They were separated somewhat by the rush of people through the ticket gate ( especially when Kid pretended to stumble with the machine due to Akane’s lack of experience riding on the _shinkansen_ ), but they managed to find each other again on the other side of the gate. 

They chattered without meaning as they walked through Ōsaka, Hattori acting as a tour guide to the forever-curious-and-ignorant Akane whenever she posed a question, and it wasn’t before long that they were at the location of last night’s heist. Considering how long it had been since the body was found, there was little police presence at the sign, and Hattori was able to talk their way through on the account of having been a part of the case in the first place. 

“Th’ body’s already been moved to th’ morgue, but there’s still lots o’ blood from th’ murder, just warnin’ ya,” Hattori stated, and Edogawa nodded absently, having been used to bloody crime scenes over the years. Kid, on the other hand, attempted to steel himself mentally — he could use his poker face to control some of his reactions to the murder case, but he was very much not used to dealing with death — or, at least, death that’s not related to his father — on a daily basis like Hattori or Edogawa. 

Hattori gave him a look – and Kid ignored the concern in his eyes – before Hattori allowed him to walk into the crime scene area.  Kid paled underneath his make-up at the sight of all of the blood staining the floor and some of the wall  ( Eriko- _oba-san_ was really murdered here? This was her blood? ), even as Conan knelt down to look at the blood splatter more closely . 

This was — He attempted to separate himself mentally from the crime scene by focusing on the crime intellectually; it was clear that whoever murdered Eriko- _oba-san_ had been **_angry_**.  For this much blood to have left the victim’s body, this wasn’t a clean murder – not at all, and Kid couldn’t think of any reason as to why anyone would have wanted to murder the victim so brutally.

The victim didn’t have any enemies, not like this, nothing that would explain the **hatred** that would have had to drive this crime. So, if the hatred wasn’t directed necessarily at the victim, then to whom? Nakamori- _keibu_? **_Him_**? 

“H — How did she die?” Akane asked, the stutter fake but the highness of her voice not. It seemed that Hattori realised that ( or, perhaps, assumed both were real ), for he looked at him sympathetically before responding. 

“Th’ victim died after gettin’ an ‘x’ carved onta her eye and gettin’ the Kaitō Kid symbol etched onta her back, similar one ta th’ one on Okita Nao’s back.” 

“We think it’s a message to Kid,” chimed in Edogawa, looking up from where he had been analysing a particular blood splatter. His eyes were darkly serious and sympathetic underneath his mask of childishness, and the sympathy only deepened at the expression on Kid’s face ( what, exactly it was, he didn’t know; he was in too much shock to control his facial expressions ). “Are you…okay?” 

He was fully aware that he’d turned pale, even more so, underneath his make-up, but there was some sort of ringing in his ears and darkening of his mind that distracted him from fully realising just how much his poker face had dropped. 

Okita Nao and Iseki Eriko had been murdered because of him? ( Aoko was crying because of him? ). This was – This was **_his_** fault? Okita Nao’s life was cut short because of him, Iseki Eriko’s family would cry because of him? But why, why the sudden escalation? Why now? 

Was this because of the notes? The murders had started after he had received the notes that he hadn’t been able to read. Was it because he hadn’t been able to read the notes? And, if so, could it be possible that the killer – 

Kid, not caring as to how it would look, turned around and ran out of the building, pulling out gloves and putting them on as he ran across the street, not caring about the incoming traffic, to reach the building across the street from the location of the heist and where he had found the second note.  

There were two reasons he was running towards the building: one, the killer could have left a second message at the location for him there, knowing that he would return to that spot after finding out why the murders had happened and, two, that he could quite possibly calculate where the second note had fell and maybe even spot it from the top of the building. 

He knew the detectives would chase after him – the terriers that they were – but he also knew that Hattori would most likely get stopped by the police officer on scene, in questioning as to why “Akane” had run away. Conan might even be slowed down as well, and it would give him time to inspect the area on his own, looking for his own brand of clues. 

Ignoring the security guard – he really wasn’t going to be able to use Morimoto Akane again, except for when he would pull heists in America – as he raced up the stairs. Taking the elevator would be too slow, and Kid was very good at physical exercise that sprinting up a few floors ( understatement ) of stairs would be child’s play. 

He slammed open the door to the roof of the building, his eyes automatically spotting the paperweight that had been used to keep the second note in place. As he ran closer to it, barely breathing heavily at all, Kid noticed that there was now something else stuck underneath the paperweight – no, two pieces of paper. 

He frowned, lifting the paperweight off and grabbed the two pieces of paper that were lying facedown. Judging by the texture of the paper, they were actually photographs – polaroids, to be exact. Kid turned them over with batted breath and froze, the blood rushing from his face, turning his skin pale, and he found it almost hard to breathe. 

“Kid? Kid, what is it?”

He couldn’t even bring himself to be shocked – not only did Conan and Hattori arrive faster than anticipated, he hadn’t noticed the two of them coming – as Kid silently showed the two detectives the polaroids. Okita Nao and Iseki Eriko featured on them both, one for each polaroid, and the victims were positioned in such a way that their backs were shown to the camera in all their bloody and gruesome detail. What was almost worse, however, was the message split between the two photographs, written in a cliché yet extremely disturbing blood red ink: DO YOU LOVE ME NOW?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took, like, five years. I had this already typed, and then I lost the novel AGAIN ( both my written and my typed copies ). So, I had to retype them, and I'm currently working on rewriting chapters nine, ten, and eleven again. Not sure if I even like this anymore, laughs.


	9. Chapter Eight

“Kid, you have to give us the photographs,” urged Conan, the urgent tone in his voice softening at the very real emotions battling across Akane’s – Kid’s – face. “They could have the criminal’s fingerprints on them.”

However, Conan doubted that. For one, the murders had been too meticulous for the photographs to have any form of clues; he wouldn’t be that sloppy while giving sick “gifts” to Kid, right? Still, there was the possibility: perhaps he put his fingerprints on the photographs on purpose so that Kid could find him easily, which was a long shot, but there was a chance. 

Without a word, Kid handed the photographs over to Hattori ( who used a handkerchief to grab the photographs and was highly careful as to not smudge any fingerprints that may be on them ), and that worried Conan further. Since when was Kid **_ever_** quiet? Or, at least, when he wasn’t hiding. 

“...You know, Kid, this isn’t your fault,” began Conan cautiously, but he was interrupted when Kid laughed. It was different from his usual brand of laughter, filled with mischief and cackling in absolute delight of having gotten one over on law enforcement; no, this was a bitter laugh, pitched low and dark and filled with some brand of hysteria, and it contrasted sharply with the softer appearance of Morimoto Akane.

“Not my fault, Tantei- _kun_?” whispered Kid softly after he finished laughing, and even in his...state, he somehow had the skill to make his whisper seem like he was talking straight into Conan’s ear, even if they were a few feet apart. “Fun fact, I’ve been receiving notes for the past two heists, but have been unable to read them due to my own magic trick and my own slippery hands. After I received the notes yet not read them, two murders have occurred. Two deaths on my hands because a **_fan_** decided to catch my attention. Tell me, Tantei- _kun_ , how isn’t that my fault?” His voice had risen in volume by the end of his little speech, and Conan was at a loss as to what to say; he had never seen Kid so...emotional before, and it was throwing him off. 

“That’s bullshit,” stated Hattori bluntly, and it shocked the two of them into looking at his position, where he had remained mostly ignored since Kid gave him the photographs. “S’not yer fault some insane asshole decided ta kill people in ya name. Sure, ya couldn’t read th’ notes, but who th’ hell would use not readin’ somethin’ an excuse ta kill people? Th’ guy’s crazy, and ya know it. Ya can’t blame yerself for shit other people’ve done when it’s not yer fault; and, trust, me, if it was, we’d sure as hell tell ya.”

Conan looked back to Kid’s face, and he seemed less...hysterical than before, and he could almost see the mask settling back onto place as he smiled. Of course, Kid seemed pale underneath his make-up as Morimoto Akane, but he was sure that a few words from Hattori wouldn’t fix his guilt and his shock entirely; he’d have to come to his own terms about it on his own time. 

For now, it was time to catch them a murderer. 

Conan, a little bit more calm now that Kid was, walked over to where the paperweight was and grabbed it with his own handkerchief before wrapping it and putting it on his pocket. Neither Hattori nor him had thought about bringing evidence bags, but hopefully it would be protected from the weather in his pocket until they could get access to one.

Well, now the suspect pool had been lowered a bit – judging from the message, it was obviously a fan of Kid’s rather than an enemy, and the best suspect pool would be members of the Kaitō Kid fan club, and those that had been at both of the heists. They’d have to read the witness statements to see which name had shown up at both heists, which would hopefully ( optimistically ) cut the people who attended both of the Kait ō Kid heists by half. After all, Osaka was a far way to travel for a lot of fans. 

“Kid, could you tell us about how you received the notes exactly?” asked Conan, and while it may not be exactly important to the case, it would hopefully get Kid’s mind off of the murders and more onto the intellectual side of the mystery. 

Judging by the way Kid glanced at him with a raised eyebrow and amused smirk, Kid had been able to read his intentions, but he stated sharing the story anyway, about how he found the notes on the necklace from the first heist and in the very same spot they were standing at in the second heist, and how he had been unable to read them because of the water – Conan had been glad to know that his hypothesis had been confirmed – and the wind respectively. 

Hattori frowned. “How would he had known ya hadn’t looked at th’ notes?” 

“And how did he get access to the first jewel?” posed Conan. “Getting to the roof on another building is slightly harder, but not as difficult. Although, how he knew you would return to this building not once but twice is a different matter.” 

“Perhaps he had somehow been watching me when I received the notes,” stated Kid thoughtfully. “Or maybe there was some sort of message or directive on the notes that I was supposed to say or follow, and when I didn’t do it, he snapped.” 

And killed two people, was his silent continuation, and Conan narrowed his eyes. 

“If so, do you think that the notes could possibly have his identity on them? After all, he would want you to know who he is, right?” stated Conan. 

“It’s possible,” Kid stated, tilting his head in acknowledgement. “However, not only are the two notes lost – although I can attempt to calculate where the second note had fallen and hope no one decided to throw it away – but there’s no message on the photographs that could hint as to his identity.” 

“Not necessarily, he could’a put his fingerprints on th’ photographs or somethin’,” replied Hattori, raising an eyebrow. 

“A thief wouldn’t think to take fingerprints off of a photograph – that’s more of a detective’s thing,” retorted Kid with a shrug of his shoulders, causing Akane’s red hair to brush against the area between his neck and his shoulders, and Conan had to look away. While he wasn’t attracted to Kid in the slightest – in fact, he thought the thief as highly annoying – the Akane disguise was... _really_ convincing. 

Strangely – or perhaps worryingly – Kid didn’t seem to notice his brief moment of distraction. Kid in full intellectual and emotional control would have noticed and teased him about it, but Kid was currently to preoccupied – and thrown off his game slightly. 

“Still, the possibility remains that he could have been sloppier leaving these things for you than he was in the murders,” replied Conan. 

“Or maybe it’s in th’ photographs themselves,” stated Hattori, and Kid and Conan both looked at him due to the ‘I’ve got something’ tone his voice had taken. “Yer focus was on th’ logos, but there’s something in th’ photographs; seems there’s some kinda rose or somethin’ next to both of th’ bodies. That mean anythin’ ta ya?” 

Kid looked at the photographs in Hattori’s hands after Hattori turned them around so that Kid could see them – Conan, on a lower level than the two of them, could only crane his neck in attempt to see the clue Hattori had spotted. In the photographs, there was a pure white rose lying next to both of the bodies in each photograph. While the rose in Okita Nao’s photograph was completely spotless, the white rose in Iseki Eriko’s photograph was placed in a bloody patch, staining the white petals red. 

Kid shook his head. “No, not really. I do give flowers to women and children in my civilian persona when I meet them, but I’ve never given a white rose before, and never really as Kid. Although, I wonder how Nakamori- _keibu_ or Hakuba would react if I gave them flowers...” 

“They’d probably think it was a prank and going to explode,” replied Conan dryly, and he was almost glad to see Kid’s usual humour back in his eyes as Kid shot his usual grin at him. 

“Would I really do that?” he asked, mock-insulted. 

“Yes,” replied Conan instantly, and Kid pouted. 

Hattori rolled his eyes at the banter before staring at the roses in the pictures again. “Could this be a hint as ta who th’ next victim might be?”

“Or maybe it even symbolises me?” thought Kid out loud. “White rose, white clothes, perhaps?” 

“It could be connected to the murderer,” stated Conan with a shrug. “Honestly, there’s no way to know without getting more clues, which we currently don’t have.” 

“We should probably get these two ta th’ police, then, so th’ lab can see if they can get any fingerprints or any other stuff on ‘em,” stated Hattori.

Kid nodded. “You can do that, Tantei- _han_ . I’ll attempt to try to find the note before it gets too dark to search, and maybe that note will have some of the information that we need.” 

“I haven’t yet had a good look at the crime scene, so I’ll probably return there to see if there’s something that the police and you have missed, Hattori,” teased Conan, and Hattori scowled down at him. 

“I wouldn’t miss nothin’,” stated Hattori sourly. 

Kid eyed him critically before stating, “You didn’t get any sleep last night, did you? Considering how much paperwork entitles in a Kid heist, especially for a teenage detective, and with the evidence of the bags underneath your eyes, your brain is probably running at a lower-than-average capacity, Y’know, detective brains need a lot of sleep ~ “

Hattori grumbled underneath his breath but didn’t deny what Kid was saying.

“Hattori, you should catch up on some sleep while we’re finishing our investigations, and then we can catch each other up. Since tomorrow’s Sunday, I’m sure Ran will let me stay in Ōsaka as long as you promise to ‘take care of me’, Hattori. I can inform you as to what we’ve found when you wake up,” stated Conan. 

Kid’s eyes brightened. “Ooh, sleepover at Tantei- _han’s_ house!” 

He cackled when Conan and Hattori had shared a wide-eyed look, and he shook his head. “Sadly, I have to be home tomorrow. However, I’ll pop by your house whenever I’m done here before I take the  _shinkanesen_ back to Tōkyō.” 

“Do ya even know – ya know what, I don’t want ta know if ya know where I live, or, better yet, how,” stated Hattori while rolling his eyes and Kid shot him a grin. 

“I guess we’ll be working together again, Tantei- _kun_ , Tantei- _han_ ,” stated Kid with his ‘devil-may-care’ grin. “This is going to be fun!” 

Conan and Hattori shared another look of horror. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I felt bad about leaving this on a cliffhanger.


End file.
